Sunday, April 30, 2006

ECCP Induction Workshop - April

Each of the steering group looked forward to the start of the project for 2006 and three of us were able to attend the Induction workshop in April.

My first impression was one of convenience to hold the event so close to the accommodation chosen and to make the best use of several different CAE rooms. The CAE certainly do things well in terms of providing suitable room layouts, refreshments and IT support. I have used their facilities before so I knew what to expect.

The organisers of the induction workshop are to be commended for the thought that went into providing an enjoyable, interactive and informative program. The timing and variety of activites was excellent and I especially enjoyed the many opportunities for individual networking among the other project leaders throughout the two days.

I always set out to learn at least one new thing at conferences, workshops and other elearning events, and I certainly did improve my knowledge of ways of engaging with audiences over extended periods of time. I especially enjoyed the 'talk to the leaders from 2005' segment and made many notes about the things to avoid and things to focus on at the beginning of the project. These have helped formulate our approach to the planning of our first meeting with the partners in our Harnessing Rural Skills project.

The activity that focussed on the 'promotional' aspects of our project was especially useful to fine tune our objectives and the expected outcomes. It is always a good strategy to keep asking the 'why' questions to ensure that there is tangible and measurable purpose to the things we plan to do. Thanks to Clint and Delia for their expertise in leading us through some critical thinking and planning activities.

If was especially beneficial for all project leaders to experience hands-on the methods of accessing and participating in the online communication platforms that will be used throughout the year. The EdNA site will be of great benefit for the project steering group to communicate and collaborate with others in like roles. We will also make best use of any Elluminate Live event participation opportunities for our project partners and certainly value and welcome the use of such web conferencing tools for further contact with other project leaders.

Having some 'homework' to do as a follow-up activity from the workshop was a good strategy and one that we will make use of after our meetings and workshops. The task of providing a Collaboration Chart will be an agenda item at our first meeting with the partners.

Since the induction workshop, the steering group has been able to meet to plan the first steps in our Harnessing Rural Skills project and we will conduct our first meeting with the partners on May 15th at Beechworth. Further comments about the lead-up to this event, the event itself and the follow-up after it will be subject of a further posting in this blog.